Little One
by yaoilover82
Summary: Chase is given a gift unbeknownst to him and also a curse and his whole world is turned upside down and things seem a whole lot bigger to him. Will House and the gang be able to figure out how Chase became a five year old...rest of summary inside...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own House.

Author's notes: It's me again, yaoilover82 and I have another story that I have been working on recently. Now that doesn't mean I've completely forgotten about my Rock on, House series. I'm kind of re-doing the whole half again since I didn't like where the story was going and well I kind of got stuck. :S Anyways, I don't know if this has been done before but I couldn't help myself write this stuff since I kept thinking about a chibi Chase and then I thought of the movie 'Big'. Weird huh, anways, I hope you like this story as well. :)

Summary: Chase is given a gift unbeknownst to him and also a curse and his whole world is turned upside down and things seem a whole lot bigger to him. Will House and the gang be able to figure out how Chase became a five year old. And what's with these mysterious people that suddenly show up and are after Chase and trying to kidnap him? Read to find out.

Rating: PG in certain parts and R in others because there will be violence and swearing.

Warnings: I guess this can be classified as supernatural...?

Prologue

Chase had a feeling in his gut that today was just going to be a bad day for him, he just knew it.

He had woken up this morning with the worst headaches ever, he was out of aspirin so he didn't have anything to calm his headache, his coffee pot cracked in the kitchen sink so no coffee, his car stopped in the middle of traffic on the way to work, which caused him to be late getting to the hospital, which in turn made him the target of House's sarcasm all morning long since House thought no one else could come in later than he did, otherwise that would mess up his dramatic entrances.

Then to make matters worse, after House had assigned Cameron to run tests on the patient and told Foreman to check out the patient's home. Chase was left with nothing to do after that but he should have known better when House had smirked at him and told him he was going to be making up some of his clinic hours for him.

When he had asked House why he was skipping out on his clinic hours, House responded that he had better things to do, like annoy Wilson, then be around sick people. Not wanting to get into an argument with House because of his headache or reprimand House for his lame excuse, Chase just followed along with what House told him and left the conference room.

So as he was making his way to the elevators, he sighed and thought, '_Yup, today is just going to be one of those days. Well there's one thing I'm looking forward to at the clinic and that is at least I can take some aspirin for this headache.'_

Little did he know, it was only the beginning…


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Several hours later, walking another of his patients out of the exam room, Chase asked the nurse on duty, who was his next victim for the evening. The nurse lifted an eyebrow at that, silently handed him the next medical file and went back to work.

Chase biting his lip from being ignored at his attempt of just being friendly and attempting a joke, looked down at the medical file down in his hands and raised his eyebrow at the name.

Looking at the name again and trying his best to pronounce it before saying it out loud, Chase gave up and called out, "Mrs. Pet-in-grow."

Watching an old woman being lead by a young woman, the young woman said, "It is Petulengro."

"Oh, um, sorry. Mrs. Vadoma Petulengro?" asked Chase looking from one woman to the other.

"That is my great grandmother. She is here." said the young woman gesturing to the older woman at her arm.

"Right, well, right this way." said Chase as he started for the exam room that he just came out of.

As the young woman lead the old woman to follow Chase, the old woman stopped and said to the young woman in a language that seemed to be a mix of Arabic and another one less identifiable, "He will be the one."

The young woman immediately turning towards the old woman asked in the same language, "What? But grandmother, He's an American…"

"It does not matter he carries the slightest hint of blood of our people whether he knows it or not. He will be the one to hold on to our secrets until you are really free from your father's grasp." said the old woman.

The young woman did not get a chance to object any further since Chase, noticing his patient and the young woman were not following him into the room.

"Um, excuse me, if there is a problem that you have that you need to discuss privately, I could leave the room first. Or if you want I could get another doctor if your great grandmother isn't comfortable with a male doctor." said Chase.

"No that is not necessary. My great grandmother was just reminding me that we needed to be somewhere after this and she didn't want me to forget." said the young woman as they walked into the room.

"oh." said Chase closing the door behind him. "So shall we continue with the exam?"

"Yes." said the young woman while helping her great grandmother onto the exam table, with Chase setting a step stool to make things easier for her to get up on the exam table.

As Chase examined the old woman's neck, since in her medical file she had been complaining of a sore throat, Chase asked, "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but I overheard you talking to your great grandmother in a interesting language there. Arabic?"

"Sort of, it's actually an old language that is passed down to the women in our family and the very few men and those who learn it tend to be the leaders of our clan." explained the young woman.

" Clan? Really? That's strange because it sounded vaguely familiar to me." said Chase with a frown of confusion.

Turning to her great grandmother with a slightly shocked look, the young woman saw the old woman with a knowing smile on her face.

"It very old tongue. Not many know." said the old woman to Chase.

"Oh so you speak English?" asked Chase in surprise thinking he would have to ask the young woman to interpret everything between them.

"So-so. I listen well." said the old woman as she shook her hand sideways.

"Well, that's great because I was just about to ask your great granddaughter to interpret between the two of us, in case you didn't understand me." said Chase.

"No, I understand." said the old woman.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that your lymph nodes seemed to be slightly swollen and I'm going to recommend you take this prescription." said Chase while he was writing down a prescription for the old woman. "If you don't see any difference in two weeks and your throat still feels sore, then I would recommend you come back here to run some tests just so we can make sure it's not something else."

As Chase was handing the prescription to the young woman, the old woman grabbed his arm suddenly that it surprised Chase. Turning towards her he said, "You move really fast for a woman of your age."

"You have gift." said the old woman, not letting go of Chase's arm when he tried to gently remove her hand.

"Um…well I am a doctor but any doctor would probably have prescribed you the same medicine that I did." said Chase as he was finally able to extract his arm from the older woman's grip.

"Little one, I give you gift. My great granddaughter can not have gift yet." said the old woman after her great granddaughter helped her down from the exam table.

"Um…ok…" said Chase confused with what the older woman was saying. Looking towards the younger woman for help in translating what her great grandmother meant but she only shrugged.

"Let's go, great grandmamma, I think you're starting to scare the poor doctor and we have to go home or papa will be mad." said the young woman as she was leading the old woman out the door.

"You know you should get that prescription today because it wouldn't benefit your great grandmother to wait another day because it could turn for the worse, her cough I mean." said Chase walking behind the two women.

"Oh yes, right. I almost forgot, but I will get that done today then. Thank you so much, Dr…" said the young woman waiting to hear Chase say his name.

"Dr. Chase, Dr. Robert Chase and it's no problem and I hope your great grandmother gets better. Mrs.…" said Chase as he shook the young woman's hand also waiting for her to say her name.

"Violca, Violca Romano." said the young woman as she continued to shake Chase's hand.

Chase pulling his hand away from the handshake since the young woman didn't seem to want to let go, said, "Um, it was nice meeting you."

As the young woman and old woman were heading towards the doors of the clinic, House was making his way in. Frowning at his boss approaching him, Chase greeted him by saying, "House."

"Ok, wombat, get your bubbly butt moving upstairs. Foreman found some interesting stuff at our patients house and we need to narrow it down some more to what it is." said House.

"But…" tried to say Chase looking at the clock on the wall and seeing that it was almost time for them to go home for the evening.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the two men, the old woman watched the two interact and spoke to Violca in their language and said, "Yes, he will be the one and he will be given the greatest gift in exchange for keeping my power hidden within him."

"Great grandmamma, aren't you afraid my father will find him?" asked Violca nervously, as she watched Chase and House arguing over something from the lobby.

"No…your father thinks I'm a fool that doesn't realize that he's been after my power all this time. I know he killed your mother to gain some power among our clan but with no proof…I could not do anything but it must stop here and now. If he were to kill me and gain my power then I have no doubt in my mind he would go after yours once they became mature enough and I can't let that happen. So he'll never suspect that I have given them up to that little one, once I am gone from this world, he'll never be able to find them because I placed a curse on the little one as well." said the old woman.

"What?! Great grandmamma, you can't…" said Violca but was interrupted by the old woman.

"Your father will be able to see all those that I have met once he kills me but he will never be able to find that little one with the curse I put on him because I will not see him again after this. And he will not be able to do a thing to you because once we are outside, you will forget as well, so he cannot use you in anyway and I will at least know that I leave this existence with some hope that our people will not be enslaved or destroyed by your father." said the old woman while walking towards the entrance to the hospital.

Violca gulping nervously at what her great grandmother said, reluctantly followed her great grandmother out the doors of the hospital and as they were a block away, Violca forgot all about the handsome blonde haired, bluish/green eyed doctor and the prescription note in her purse and about her great grandmother's prediction about her death.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It was two in the morning when Chase finally walked into his apartment and exhausted from the evenings events, he walked into his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed without even removing his shoes.

Turning over and placing his hands over his stomach, Chase thought back at how their patient was finally cured and all because, for once, Cameron gave House a tongue lashing about the patient being a womanizer.

As he slowly drifted into a sound sleep, he smiled as he remembered the look on House's face when Cameron warned House if he ever made her work alone again with another womanizing man she would take his vicodin and hide them where House wouldn't be able to find them again.

Chuckling at the thought, he turned over to his side and fell asleep.

* * *

The next day…..

He sat at the conference table, staring at nothing in particular while drumming his fingers on the handle of his cane. After checking his watch for the third time, House looked over to Foreman who was reading a medical journal, seeing no reaction to his staring, House turned towards Cameron at the desk who was checking his e-mail.

"Did you try calling him?" asked House, as he stood up from his seat to make his way over to Cameron.

"Yes." said Cameron with hint of annoyance and stopping what she was doing to stare at House, "And each time I do, I keep getting his voice mail."

Scowling at Cameron, House decided he didn't want to anger her more and risk her going through with her threat from yesterday, so while turning to face Foreman, he said, "Foreman, I guess this is where I'm going to need your trusty skills again."

Foreman rolled his eyes at House and said, "Look, don't you think we should just continue with what we're doing. I mean, we don't have a case anymore and it's not like we really need Chase here to just sit around and do nothing. Plus if Chase hasn't answered his phone, it's probably because he knows we don't have a case or he could be working extra hours in another department and doesn't want to be found by you. I wouldn't put it past him if it was the second choice of the two."

"Either way, that's no excuse to not answer his phone. If he was going to be calling in a sick day, he should have asked first since I'm the one that decides if he comes in to work or not and if it's the second choice, then I'm just gonna have to make sure Chase understands that he works for me and make an example out of you two to get the point across to him." said House sarcastically.

Sighing, Foreman stood up and said, "I'll drive."

"Good, then let's roll. That is the correct term your people are using now a days, right?" asked House sarcastically as he went to his office to get his coat and call Cuddy.

"Don't let him get to you Foreman, you know he's just taking it out on you because Chase isn't here and he's worried about him." said Cameron as she turned to look at Foreman as he made his way to the door.

"Yeah, I know." said Foreman sighing afterwards. After asking Cameron to call them if she heard anything from Chase while they were on their way to his apartment, Foreman told House that he would meet him downstairs in the parking lot with the motor running.

Making his way to the elevators, Foreman thought, _'Chase, you better be really sick for you not to be answering your phone. Otherwise you are so going to owe me for putting up with House on the way to your apartment.' _

* * *

At Chase's apartment….

After knocking on the door several times, House told Foreman, "Ok, Mr. Breaking and entry, do your job."

Foreman annoyed with House's comment said, "What? Don't you have a key or something? I mean you do have a duplicate to Cuddy's house, I wouldn't put it past you to have…"

"Oh sure, take the fun out of everything. Fine, I'll use the damn key. Happy?!" said House when Foreman gave him a look at his response.

As they unlocked the door, House noticed that everything seemed to be normal, well as normal as things could be since he had never been over to Chase's apartment before.

"I'll check his bedroom." said Foreman as he walked past House to enter the apartment.

"Ok…I guess I'll check…the kitchen." said House as he limped over to the small room that was a kitchen.

Opening the refrigerator, House was hoping to find something to snack on but upon finding only a well stocked refrigerator with healthy food, he made a face and closed the door.

Limping over to the cabinets to search for some kind of unhealthy snack, he again became frustrated when all he found were dry foods that seemed to be all natural and healthy looking.

Closing the cabinet door, House turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a small young boy staring at him from over the kitchen counter.

"Foreman!" yelled House as he inched his way towards the counter, "Hey, wait…" said House afterwards as the young boy ran to make his way down the hall that Foreman had disappeared to.

Making his way down the hall, he almost gave screamed as Foreman almost ran into him exiting Chase's bedroom.

"Don't! do that!" said House trying to stay calm, he had to admit that seeing that little boy had been freaky and for him to all of a sudden disappear without a trace, kind of gave him the creeps.

"Do what? I heard you yell my name so I came to look for you. Unless you like yelling out my name at random times…?" asked Foreman taking in House's slightly pale face.

"Shut up! Look, did you see a young boy run by here a while ago?" asked House, scowling at Foreman for making fun of him.

"No…what little boy?" asked Foreman with a slightly puzzled face.

Both men jumped at that moment when they heard a loud thud coming from one of the spare rooms in the apartment.

"Um? Did you hear that?" asked Foreman, gulping nervously as he wondered what had made that loud sound.

"If I say no, would that make a difference?" said House sarcastically.

"No but it would make me feel better." said Foreman straining to hear if another sound would come from down the hallway.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Foreman as he noticed House make his way towards the spare bedroom.

"To check out our little ghost, of course…." getting a look from Foreman, "I'm going to make sure that someone else hadn't broken in before we did and that's them we heard a little while ago." continued House.

"and this little boy you saw?" asked Foreman.

"The robber's son?" guessed House while getting an annoyed look from Foreman for his response.

"Sure, a burglar would bring his own kid to a breaking and entry…" said Foreman sarcastically.

"Hey I brought you along and you're as close to a duplicate of me, so that kind of counts." said House as he turned the knob to the door.

When House didn't get a reply to his sarcastic remark, he turned to see Foreman glaring at him and mumbling something along the lines, 'I'm am not anything like you.'

Turning back to the door, House pushed it open with his cane slowly and once he noticed there wasn't anyone else in the room, he turned to Foreman and said, "Guess there isn't a burglar. A cat maybe."

"I don't know, Chase hasn't mentioned anything about owning a pet." said Foreman.

"Hmm….well that still puzzles me about the little boy I saw…I mean his cell phone was still on the charger and I doubt he would leave by foot since his car is still parked outside and to top it off, I don't think he would leave a little boy in his apartment." said House while tapping his cane on the floor.

"That sounds kind of suspicious." said Foreman, hoping House wasn't trying to imply what he was already thinking.

"That Chase has a illegitimate child that he's been hiding from us all this time and he went to a corner store to buy the kid some cereal." said House sarcastically.

"Yeah, like you were actually thinking that." said Foreman knowing House was thinking the worst of Chase.

"Hey I don't know what you were….WHOA!" shouted House as a little blonde boy ran past them, causing House to lose his balance slightly and Foreman to jump back in surprise.

They both turned in time to see the little boy run towards the living room and most probably the entrance.

Turning to each other when they didn't hear the door slam open and close, they both moved quickly to the living room to see the small blonde haired boy hide behind one of the curtains in the living room.

House scowling at the curtain, starting making hand gestures for Foreman to walk to the other side, while he went to the other to catch the little boy.

Foreman rolling his eyes at House's stupid idea for once, instead said in a loud voice, "Hey kid, I know you're behind that curtain."

Not getting a response from the little boy Foreman said, "Look, we're not going to hurt you. We are actually people that work with the person that lives in this apartment and we're looking for him. Do you know who I'm talking about?" taking a deep breath he further asked, "Did that man bring you here?"

Foreman hoping that Chase really wasn't some child molester was snapped out of his thoughts when a small cute face appeared from behind the curtain and was shaking his head.

Foreman wrinkling his brow in confusion asked, "How did you get here?"

As the little boy opened his mouth to answer, House interrupted with, "Did you break into this apartment because if you did, we're going to have to call the police to come pick you up."

Foreman seeing the little boy's bluish/green eyes widen at House's comment, groaned when the little boy hid behind the curtain again in fear.

"House! You scared him!" said Foreman as he glared at House.

Turning back to the little boy he said in a gentle tone, "Hey little guy, don't worry, nobody is going to call the police to take you away, the big scary guy here is just worried that you might have been taken from your family and so we want to make sure of that, ok?"

The little boy peeking his head out of the curtain again, said in a whisper, "ok."

Foreman noticing House was about to make another sarcastic remark, gave a glare for House to be quiet.

Rolling his eyes, House turned away to look at the few pictures on the coffee table to let Foreman talk to the little boy.

Kneeling down to one knee, Foreman turned back to the little boy and asked, "So a man didn't bring you here?" Receiving a head shake as his answer Foreman asked, "Then how did you get here?"

"I woke up here." said the little boy as he moved from behind the curtain to answer Foreman.

Foreman gasped in surprise as he noticed that he was wearing the same shirt that Chase had been wearing yesterday which looked three sizes two large for the little boy, as he turned to point that out to House.

House said in a shocked voice, "The Hell?!"


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

After Foreman was finally able to coax the little boy to come out from behind the curtains because House's tone had scared him into hiding behind it again. Foreman tried to reassure the little boy that nobody was angry with him but when the little boy asked in a teary voice if he was being a nuisance instead, Foreman turned to House to help him.

House snapping out of his shock, approached Foreman and the little boy and trying to smile reassuringly said in a gentle tone, "Hey, little one, no one is angry with you and you're not being a nuisance."

"Liar!" said the little boy as he rubbed one of his eyes but didn't make a move to rub the other, which was leaking a few tears, to keep an eye on the dark man and the grumpy old man with the cane.

House scowling now at being called a liar by a small brat, said, "Fine! You are a nuisance then!"

Foreman glaring at first that House would say something like that to the little boy was surprised when the little boy ran into his arms to cry on his chest.

Glaring at House, he said, "Yes, very mature House, now he's going to cry and it's going to take a while to calm him down, again. We need to find out who he is and why Chase brought him here."

"Hey, he started it." said House as he made his way to the couch, taking a seat he continued with, "and we don't have to worry about asking him that."

"What? Why?" asked Foreman in confusion as he patted the little boy's back to try to calm him down.

"That little boy there is Chase's son, look." said House as he held a photo up for Foreman to see.

Foreman picking up the little boy in his arms walked over to House to see the photo and saw an old photo, he assumed, was of Chase as a little boy with his mother.

"Wow, the resemblance is exactly the same." said Foreman as he noticed the little boy had stopped crying on his shoulder and was also looking at the picture frame.

Both men were shocked when the little boy pointed out, "That's my mommy and me."

* * *

House being the first one to snap out of his second shock for the day, asked, "Who told you that?"

Pouting, the little boy said, "My daddy and mommy."

"Ok, well they lied to you. Since this is Chase's mother." said House.

"Nuh uh! She's my mommy!" said the little boy with a frown.

"No she isn't" said House getting annoyed with the little boy.

"Yes! She is!" said the little boy with his chin starting to tremble.

Foreman noticing the little boy was about to start crying again said, "Hey little guy, are you sure that's your mommy?"

Turning to Foreman with a quivering chin, the little boy said in a small voice, "yes."

Foreman trying to make sense of what was going on and who this little boy really was that claimed Chase's mother was his mother, thought of something and asked, "What's your name?"

The little boy looked at the dark man and said, "Mommy said I shouldn't give my name to strangers."

House exasperated now and losing patience at not knowing who this little boy was, asked, "Oh come on! If we introduce ourselves to you will you tell us your name?"

Scowling at the grumpy man, the little boy turned to whisper something in Foreman's ear, which in turn made Foreman snort in laughter. Foreman turning back to House said to a puzzled House, "He says that he'll tell me his name since he trusts me but…he won't tell me with you in the room since you're a mean old man."

Glaring at the little boy now, House said, "Hmph, me mean?! You should meet my old man. Now he's old and mean."

"House, please? Just so we can figure out who he is and so we can call Cameron…" tried to say Foreman but House interrupted him.

"No…not Cameron, knowing her she'll jump to the worst conclusion and call social services and accuse Chase of being a child molester. I'll call Wilson while you interrogate the little pipsqueak." said House as he took out his cell phone and made his way to the door and out to the hallway to call Wilson.

* * *

Now alone with the little boy, Foreman sat the little boy on the couch kneeled at eye level with the little boy but before he could get a word out the boy asked, "What's inter…inter gate? Does it hurt?"

Amused with the cute little boy's question and saying the word wrong, Foreman answered, "Interrogate means when someone asks another person a lot of questions and to answer your second question, it doesn't hurt at all especially when I'm asking the questions."

"Ok." said the little boy as he started drumming his legs on the side of the couch.

Foreman clearing his throat asked, "Do you want me to say my name first so that way we aren't strangers anymore?"

Getting a nod for an answer, Foreman said, "Ok little guy, my name is Dr. Eric Foreman and I'm a co-worker of the man that lives here."

Watching the little boy's reaction carefully, Foreman waited for the little boy to respond and finally give him his name.

* * *

Meanwhile out in the hallway….

House finally getting a hold of Wilson on the phone said, "Wilson, it's House. Hmm…What? I don't know where your desk name plate is. Nope, when I snuck into your office yesterday it was already gone. Yup, maybe it was the janitor."

"Wilson…Wilson! Calm down and forget about the stupid name plate for a moment, I need you to do me a favor. I'm over here at Chase's place…what?! No! You moron, Cameron and Foreman were worried about Chase not coming in today so I suggested that Foreman and I come down here and drag Chase back to work..."

"Actually when we got here, we didn't find Chase anywhere but we did find a little boy that looks like a mini version of Chase wandering around his apartment half naked."

"What?! No! That's why I'm calling you. Apparently the kid claims he doesn't remember how he got here but he claims that Chase's mother is his mother. So Foreman is inside talking to the little pipsqueak to get the truth out of him. I personally think Chase had a love child and he never said a word of it to anyone…"

"Wilson! I said calm down! Look I just need you to do me a favor and stop by a clothing store on your way over here and pick up something for a boy that's maybe around five years old. Yes! Yes! Just get your butt down here already and don't say a word to Cameron or Cuddy until we figure out who this kid really is." said House as he hung up the phone.

Hearing the door open, House turned to see Foreman with a perplexed look on his face and mumbling something under his breath.

"So did Chase's love child tell you his real name?" asked House raising his eyebrow at Foreman.

"You know, I don't know if I'm dreaming or if you slipped something in our coffee this morning but he claims his name is Robert Chase and so I asked him who his father was to see if he would say Chase's name but he said his father's name is Dr. Rowan Chase." explained a confused Foreman.

Blinking in confusion from the information, House said, "Ok…so either we're both dreaming about this, which I think is highly unlikely, two Cameron slipped something in the coffee that we both drank this morning and we're tripping, three this kid could be really messed up and delusional or four Chase hired this little kid and he's pulling a prank on us to get back at me for making him work all my clinic hours this past two weeks…"

"Well, that's what I thought as well until I asked him if he knew when he was born, which by the way he's really bright for a boy his age and…" said Foreman going off on a tangent.

"Yes, yes, he's bright, blah, blah, just tell me what you were going to say." said House losing patience.

"Well, I asked him and he told me and when I asked him the exact year, he told me 1979, House he should be around Chase's age instead of a five year old boy." said Foreman.

House getting a thoughtful look on his face for a moment, walked back into the apartment and approached the little boy and asked, "Ok kid, I need to know right now, who are you and where's the real Dr. Robert Chase? If he's here and filming this as a prank I need you to stop lying and tell me the truth."

The little boy instantly becoming intimidated with House's presence and tone of voice, said in a whisper, "I'm not lying. Mommy told me never to lie or I'll be like daddy."

Rubbing a hand over his face, House said, "Foreman, I need you to go to my office and get Chase's medical file for me. I'll wait here until Wilson gets here and as soon as you find it call me on my cell."

"But…wouldn't it be better if you went and I stayed…" he stopped talking as soon as he saw the look on House's face at even suggesting another idea. Sighing he nodded and made his way to leave.

"Eric! Where are you going?" asked the panicked child as he ran to catch up to Foreman at the entry way.

Kneeling down he looked at the young boy in the eyes and said, "I'm going to go do something really important okay, Robert? So I need to you to behave while I'm gone and Dr. House will be staying…"

"I don't want you to go and I don't want Dr. House to stay." said a pouting Robert, while grabbing Foreman's jacket sleeve.

"Hey, Dr. House may look like a mean old grumpy man, but trust me, he's not as bad. Besides a really nice man by the name of Dr. James Wilson is coming over and you'll like him. He's a really nice guy compared to Dr. House and he's going to be bringing you some comfortable clothes to wear instead of this big shirt. Ok, buddy? And I promise you, you will be seeing me again." said Foreman, hoping House wouldn't say anything sarcastic to upset Robert at that moment.

"Ok but you promised and Mommy says breaking a promise is very bad." said Robert while crossing his arms over his chest.

Ruffling Robert's hair he said, "Don't worry Robert, I won't break my promise." and headed out the door.

As Foreman closed the door behind him, he couldn't help think if he had a son, he would want him to be just like Robert. Then he thought in amusement, _'God, if Chase was like this as a child, what made him into such a jerk now as an adult.' _Shrugging, Foreman made his way to his car and back on the road to PPTH.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Watching as Eric walked out the door, Robert turned hesitantly towards where Dr. House was or as he liked to call him 'the grumpy old man', and saw House taking a seat on the couch in the living room and turn on what appeared to be a television screen.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Robert walked over and looked at the big flat box that looked like a television but wasn't as fat like a normal TV.

As House was flipping through the channels, Robert's attention was caught when House left it on a channel with this yellow square looking cartoon that was trying to catch jellyfish.

Turning to House, Robert lost all his fear at being left alone with House and asked curiously, "Who's that?"

"That's sponge bob square pants." said House, knowing that the cartoon would catch the small child's attention and so he had deliberately left it to that channel.

"Oh." said Robert with some awe as he climbed on to the couch to take a seat and watched the show from his side of the couch.

* * *

As they watched the show, House's stomach reminded him it was time for lunch, so getting up from the couch, he limped into the kitchen to at least calm his hunger.

Grimacing at all the tasteless, healthy food, House was about to give up on eating anything, when he heard a loud rumbling sound that wasn't coming from his own stomach.

Turning to the side, he saw the little Chase imposter standing at the entrance of the kitchen and tell him shyly, "I…I'm hungry."

"Same here pipsqueak, but it seems the real Chase doesn't have much taste for real food. So we're just going to have to wait until Wilson gets here to have something decent to eat." said House feeling uncomfortable as the little boy stared at him, as he made his way to the couch.

Watching from the corner of his eye, House noticed the little boy frown at him and then disappear back into the kitchen and rolled his eyes thinking the little brat was probably rummaging for something to eat from Chase's fridge.

He soon became curious when the little boy dragged a chair into the kitchen and then come back out, look around the room and then make several trips to and from the kitchen when he found some books to carry from under the coffee table.

Waiting a few seconds when the little boy didn't come back out, House sighed and made his way to the kitchen and almost had a heart attack.

* * *

Standing on an unsteady pile of books that were on top of the chair was the little brat. As House was about to scold the little boy for doing something he wasn't supposed to, House saw at that moment that the little boy hadn't noticed he bumped one of the big wine bottles on the middle shelf as he grabbed whatever he had been reaching for.

Yelling out a warning, House yanked the little boy away as the wine bottle toppled over and crashed down where the little boy had previously been standing.

At hearing House yell and yank him by his arm, Robert became instantly spooked thinking he had done something really troublesome. So when they landed on the floor, with him on top of House, Robert started crying when he heard the wine bottle break, thinking he was going to get a severe spanking for breaking something that wasn't his.

House feeling guilty for causing the little boy to almost kill himself and for frightening him, he said gently, "Hey, hey, it's alright. Robert? Are you hurt?"

Shaking his head no, Robert continued to cry.

Feeling like a bigger ass, House said again while hugging the small child, "It's ok Robert, I'm sorry that I yelled at you and yanked on you like that but I didn't want you to get hurt. So tell me, did I hurt you when I pulled on your arm?"

Shaking his head no again, Robert brokenly said, "I'm sorry! I…I…I know I was….bad. Are you…are you going to s-s-s-spank me for breaking…*sniff*…your bottle?"

Sighing in relief that he hadn't hurt the little boy while he pulled on his arm, House said, "No, but next time you want something, ask me ok? Plus, I don't really mind since that wasn't my bottle."

Thinking this would calm Robert down from crying, it seemed to intensify it and when House asked him again what was wrong, Robert brokenly said, "You're going to tell Mommy, aren't you? Mommy…mommy doesn't like it when I….when I…break her bottles."

House had known about Chase's mother's drinking problem but to hear this little boy become this terrified over a broken bottle seemed to twist something in House's heart.

House started believing that maybe this was Robert Chase since he knew that no imposter or child actor would have known about Chase's mother's drinking problem and he didn't think Chase would share that kind of information with just anyone.

As he continued to rub Robert's back to calm him down, he said while lifting Robert's little face, "Hey…Robert look at me. I'm not mad and no one is going to punish or spank you for something that was an accident. If someone needs to be punished it's me for not getting you something to snack on while we waited for Wilson. I'm sorry so don't cry, ok, little one?"

Rubbing his eyes while letting a few tears leak out, Robert nodded and said, "I'm sorry House for calling you mean and grumpy."

Letting out a surprise chuckle at what Robert told him, House said, "Ok, well since we're moving past this, why don't you sit down on the couch, while I clean up the mess. I don't want you stepping on any glass accidentally with your bare feet."

"And knowing Wilson, he'd probably think I was the one to purposely put the glass on the floor. Which reminds me, what were you reaching for?" asked House looking down at what Robert was holding.

Grinning past the remaining tears, Robert held up his prize to show House what he was holding and said, "peanut butter."

Shaking his head in amusement, House said, "Ok, then how about I give you a spoon so you can enjoy your peanut butter while I clean up this mess and we wait for Wilson."

Nodding enthusiastically, Robert stood up and waited at the kitchen doorway as House stood up to look for a spoon for him. Walking Robert to the living room to watch some more sponge bob, House made sure he was distracted while he made his way to the kitchen to clean up the glass.

As he found the broom and dust tray in the pantry, he thought, _'I don't know how you got this way Chase but I'm going to do my best to solve this and get you back to the way you were.' _

* * *

After two and a half hours later…

Wilson finally arrived at Chase's apartment and climbing the stairs two at a time, he couldn't help panic at the thought that House was watching a five year old all this time.

He knew his best friend had a low tolerance for children so he had tried to get here as fast as he could after buying a few clothes for the little boy that House and Foreman had found in Chase's apartment.

Knocking on the door, he thought worriedly, _'What is Chase doing with a little boy in his apartment anyway? Maybe I should have called the police…but then again if House says he's Chase's child, then maybe Chase went looking for the mother… or maybe House was just pulling his leg and all of this was just a joke?'_

As House opened the door for him, he walked in and asked, "Where is Chase's so called love child that you told me about over the phone?"

House rolling his eyes, said, "He's in the living room, watching a cartoon."

Still doubting House, Wilson walked further into the apartment and saw a cute blonde haired boy watching a cartoon while doodling in a note pad with markers.

"So did you find out if he's really Chase's child or not?" asked Wilson watching the little boy laugh at something that he found funny on the television screen.

"Actually he's…" said House but didn't get to finish as Robert turned at that moment and saw Wilson and got up from the floor and ran to House's side.

Wilson raising his eyebrows at the way the child was practically hiding behind House to peer at him and House actually not minding, wondered if he was in some kind of weird dream.

Pinching himself, he realized it wasn't and so put on his best smile that he saved for his younger patients, he bent down and said, "Hello. I'm Dr. James Wilson and you must be the little guy that Dr. House told me needed some new clothes. Am I right?"

Robert who was peering at the handsome man with the thick eyebrows from behind House's leg nodded his head and said shyly, "My name is Robert Chase and Eric told me you were coming."

Confused for a moment, Wilson blinked and peered up at House to ask, "Did he just say his name is Robert Chase?"

"Yup." said House as he ruffled Robert's hair.

"As in Robert Chase Jr.?" asked Wilson bewildered at the thought that Chase had a son after all and Chase had left him in the apartment all by himself.

"Not exactly." said House scratching the side of his face and giving Robert a pat on the back to go and continue watching his cartoon.

As Wilson watched Robert go back to watching his cartoon, he turned to House and asked, "What do you mean, not exactly? I thought you said he was Chase's son?"

"Well about that, he's not really Chase's son." said House hesitating on whether he should come out and tell Wilson who the little boy really was.

"Then who is he?" asked Wilson, getting a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Let's go into the kitchen and I'll tell you there." said House as he made his way to the kitchen.

"What? Why?" asked Wilson as he followed House to the kitchen.

"Believe me, you're gonna need something to lean on once I tell you. I mean, Foreman even dropped the phone once I confirmed who he was when he called about an hour ago. So just trust me on this." said House.

"ok…." said Wilson slightly puzzled now.

* * *

Robert who had been concentrating on his drawing on his notepad, jumped up in surprise when he heard Wilson yell from the kitchen, "WHAT?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Running to the kitchen he peered into the doorway and watched as Wilson leaned heavily on the counter and said, "You're serious about this, aren't you? I mean he's really Chase. But how?"

"I don't know how, the why, or even the what. I just know that I was able to confirm with Foreman over the phone that he's really Chase." said House watching Wilson start to pace back and forth.

Robert in the meantime would hide every time Wilson would come towards his direction but after a while Wilson stopped and stood with his back towards Robert, giving him the perfect cover to listen in on the conversation.

"How did you confirm with Foreman that he's really Chase?" asked Wilson raising an eyebrow.

"Well in his medical file, it says he had a small incision from a surgery when he was two years old to clear some fluid in his lungs when he was really sick one summer and…" said House but was interrupted by Wilson.

"Wait, House, you did not just ask that child to expose himself to you, did you?! You're practically a stranger to him!" said Wilson, hoping House had some better sense than that.

"What?! Of course not, you moron. I asked him to go to the bathroom and check to see if he had a small scar on his chest and to tell me once he came back out. I know better than that, since I think he would have found it weird if I had asked him to just take off all his clothes so I could check something." said House rolling his eyes at Wilson in exasperation.

Wilson ignoring House's small outburst asked, "But how did he end up like this? I mean it's not physically possible for someone to revert back to a child."

"Believe me, I've been trying to think about all the possibilities to how he ended up this way and I haven't been able to come up with an answer since I even know it's scientifically impossible." explained House rubbing his right temple.

"Um…" said a small voice from behind Wilson.

Immediately both men turned towards Robert and dropped the conversation and once Robert had their attention he said, "I'm hungry. Wilson, House said you were going to make something yummy to eat for me and him."

"Oh, did he." said Wilson turning towards House and glaring at him.

House in turn looked on sheepishly at Wilson while scratching his chin and said, "Well, I gave him some peanut butter but he got fed up with it after a while and said he wanted to eat something yummy. I told him that you were a great cook and would make your special spaghetti."

Sighing, Wilson turned towards Robert and said with a extra hint of cheeriness, "Hey Robert, why don't you look through the stuff that I brought for you with Dr. House and change into something that actually fits you while I cook us some special spaghetti. If you don't like what I bought for you, you can tell Dr. House what you want the next time we buy you some clothes and he'll buy them for you."

As House was about to protest to that, Robert answered for him in a excited voice, "Ok!"

Walking over to House, Robert grabbed House's hand and began to tug him along to the living room while saying in an excited voice "House! House! I have new clothes! Let's go!"

House glaring over his shoulder at Wilson said, "You do know I will get my revenge."

Wilson in turn only gave a big smile and said, "Oh shut up! You know you're enjoying all the attention he's giving you and I insist you help him out in picking what to wear. I don't want to see him running around with his underwear around his head, like a certain someone we all know. And **I **can start on making us special spaghetti."

"That was only one time and we were both drunk, you jerk!" said House as he stuck his tongue out at Wilson before he was dragged to the living room by an enthusiastic Robert.

Turning back to look around the kitchen, Wilson hoped Chase had the ingredients he needed to make spaghetti in the first place. He decided the first place to look for anything would be, the pantry.

* * *

After House looked through all the clothes that Wilson had bought, he handed Robert a plain white boy's brief, a black athletic pant with an orange strip down the sides and a black short sleeve t-shirt in which the sleeves were the same orange, to change into.

Telling Robert he had a choice to either change in the bathroom or bedroom, he watched in amusement as Robert ran to the bathroom with excitement at what House had picked for him.

Turning back to the bag, he took out the clothes from the bag which were two pairs of briefs, a brown cargo short, a plain grey t-shirt, a blue striped polo shirt, a pair of beige pants with several pockets, a packet of plain white socks, a grey fleece hoodie and a pair of loose sweat pants.

Raising his eyebrow at not finding a pair of shoes for Robert, House walked to the kitchen and said, "You didn't buy him shoes, Wilson. Do you expect him to walk around in socks everywhere?"

Wilson who was stirring pasta into a pot of water, said with a hint of annoyance, "Well of course I didn't buy him shoes. Shoes are a whole different thing, he needs to get measured in order for me to buy him a pair. I wasn't just going to pick a random size and hoped it would fit. I only bought him clothes that I assumed would fit a five to eight year old and that's all."

Nodding, House said, "Then once we're finished here, I suggest we go do that. I don't want to leave him here by himself or have him come along with us to the hospital without shoes."

"Of course, I wouldn't suggest you do that either. Plus, we need to find out how he ended up like this." said Wilson as he noticed Robert come to stand at the kitchen entrance next to House.

"Look, Look! House! They fit!" said a happy Robert, showing off his new clothes to Wilson and House.

Not being able to resist a smile, both men told Robert the clothes looked good on him, with Wilson telling Robert that after they were done eating they were going to go buy him some shoes or rather that House was going to buy him some shoes.

Robert smiled at that and looking down at House's shoes, asked, "Can I get some like House?"

"Sure, little one, I'm sure we can find a few pair like House's in your size and I know House wouldn't mind paying for them either." said Wilson giving Robert an assuring smile, noticing the little boy was quickly growing attached to House since he wanted to dress almost like him.

"Don't encourage him, Wilson." grumbled House not liking the idea that Wilson was the one that was going to make him pay for the shoes.

"Hey, you were the one that said we needed to get him some shoes. So…if anything, I'll get worried if he starts requesting that we buy him a cane and blazer next, then maybe I'll stop encouraging him." said Wilson turning back to his cooking.

Sighing, House didn't get to respond back as Robert pulled him towards the living room again so he could show House his drawings.


	6. Chapter 5

Thanks everyone for the reviews! I hope you like the next two chapters. ^_^

**Chapter 5**

After finally having something in front of him besides just peanut butter to eat, Robert felt happy. He had eaten spaghetti before with his mommy but it had never looked or smelled as yummy like this and when Wilson had set down his bowl of spaghetti, his eyes had widened at the huge pile of noodles set before him.

Grabbing his fork, he was about to dig in but stopped with a frown on his face as he was reminded that he was wearing new clothes.

He remembered once before when he had received new clothes from his mommy because they were going to have dinner at a fancy restaurant with his daddy, that he had asked his mommy for something to drink before his daddy came home.

His mommy had given him juice but warned him not to spill anything on his new clothes or else. So he had tried to be as careful as possible when he had taken the glass to drink at the table.

Though as hard as he tried to not spill anything, he ended up doing just that. He had mistakenly placed the glass half way on the table and when he had let go to pull his chair out, his chair had bumped the table and he ended up spilling the drink all over his new white dress shirt.

He remembered his mommy being furious with him after that and yelling at him that she had just bought him the shirt and now he had gone and ruined it. So when his daddy had come home from work that evening he had walked in on his mommy washing his juice stained shirt in the sink and Chase standing behind her crying while profusely apologizing.

They didn't end up going to dinner after that since his daddy had gotten mad at his mommy for making a big deal about the stain. He remembered going to bed that night with nothing to eat and crying because he thought he had been a nuisance again while listening to his parents argue some more downstairs.

He never asked again for anything to drink or eat before they went out somewhere again after that, even if he was really hungry or thirsty.

* * *

House stopped twirling his noodles around his fork when he noticed Robert was just sitting there and hadn't touched his food. He also noticed that Wilson had noticed the same thing and with a worried tone, he asked, "What's wrong Robert?"

Not getting a reply to House's question, Wilson grew concerned and asked, "Do you not like spaghetti, Robert? Do you want me to fix you something else to eat?"

Looking up at the two with a forlorn face, Robert said, "I have new clothes."

Blinking in confusion at Robert's response, Wilson asked, "Yes and they look really nice but why don't you want to eat?"

Getting teary-eyed Robert said in soft voice, "I don't want to make a mess."

House contemplating that response, stood up quickly from the table and went into the kitchen. Wilson meanwhile watched him go and panicked a little thinking House left Wilson to deal with Robert on his own but relaxed as House returned with a big clean dish towel in one hand.

Standing behind Robert's chair, House said, "I think I can help you out." and proceeded to tuck the towel around the collar of Robert's shirt. Once done he said, "There, now you won't get your clothes all messy."

Looking down at the big towel in front of him, covering his new clothes, Robert gave a big grin and said, "Thank you House!" and proceeded to dig into his spaghetti and making appreciative noises from how good the spaghetti tasted.

Wilson smiled and watched Robert eat for a moment and turned in time to see House give Robert a genuine smile of his own and he couldn't help think that maybe House was also becoming attached to this young version of Robert Chase. He just hoped House didn't grow too attached and forget about trying to help get Chase back to his original age.

* * *

After their late lunch.....

When they had arrived at the department store, with Robert on Wilson's hip and not wearing any shoes, the sales clerk had been miffed that two men would dare to bring a child into the store without any shoes.

House coming up with a lie on the spot told the sales clerk, "Well he had shoes on in the car but he thought it would be fun to toss them out the window along the way and we don't know when or where he exactly decided to throw them out."

Still looking slightly peeved at the obvious lie the sales clerk let it go and assisted them in helping them find shoes for Robert.

The sales clerk helped measure Robert's foot and was about to get some ordinary pair of black shoes until Robert saw them and said with a pout, "Um, but I want some like his." pointing at House's shoes.

Smiling, the sales clerk told Robert they had some in his size that were exactly like the one's House wore and so went to go get them from the back of the store.

Once he was wearing them and was satisfied at how they looked, Robert smiled at Wilson and House and even the sales clerk and said, "Thank you."

"My, he's such a cute and polite boy, are you sure he threw out his shoes on your way over?" asked the sales clerk as she walked with the three to the cashier box.

Wilson and House could only fidget as the sales clerk stared at them, waiting for an answer but after watching the two squirm a little she decided to let the matter drop and said, "Well, just make sure he doesn't do it again."

As she rung up the price for the shoes, House gave an exaggerated gasp and said, "Wilson…I forgot my wallet. Do you think you could get this?"

Gaping at House and turning to look at the sales clerk, he noticed she was now glaring at the two of them and then raised an eyebrow at Wilson.

Wilson sighed as he took out his wallet to pay for the brand new shoes that Robert now wore and grumbled under his breath about how House had inconveniently forgot his wallet at home.

Smiling once more, the sales clerk told them to have a wonderful day and now they were back on the road and heading towards PPTH.

* * *

At Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital....

As they made their way to the front entrance, a few people stopped what they were doing to take in the scene of Dr. House and Dr. Wilson arguing over something about shoes with a little blonde haired boy holding on to House's left hand.

They made it into the elevator without anyone getting in their way and as the elevator doors were starting to close, a hand stopped them before they could shut completely.

House immediately pulled Robert behind him as the doors opened to reveal Dr. Lisa Cuddy with a frown on her face.

"Where have you been?" asked Cuddy looking at House directly.

"He was…" Wilson tried to say but Cuddy held up a hand to stop him from saying anything further.

"House, next time you decide to leave again, after I explicitly told you, you couldn't, I expect you to do some clinic hours without any complaints. You got that." said Cuddy phrasing the last part as more of a statement instead of a question.

As House was about to reply with a sarcastic remark, a small voice spoke before he could and asked, "Are you the boss lady?"

Hoping Robert wouldn't say anything, House and Wilson both grimaced as Cuddy glanced down and saw Robert and asked, "Who's this?!"

"It's complicated." said House as he pressed the button to go to the fourth floor, trying to avoid Cuddy from asking anymore questions.

Glaring at House, Cuddy was able to get on the elevator before the doors closed and kneeling down to Robert's level, she said in a sweet tone, "Yes, I'm House's boss, Dr. Lisa Cuddy and who are you, you little cutie?"

Robert blushing at the nice and pretty boss lady, shyly said, "My name is Robert Chase."

Gaping in surprise, she looked up to Wilson and House and asked, "Is he Chase's son?"

Before either one of them could answer, Robert asked in an excited tone, "You know my daddy? He's a doctor too and he tells me he fixes people all the time. Do you fix people too? Are we going to see him?"

Cuddy thinking the little boy was referring to Chase said with a smile, "Yes, I know your daddy."

"Lisa…" said Wilson trying to not get Robert that excited because he didn't want him to be disappointed when he found out that his father wasn't here.

Turning to Wilson, Cuddy asked, "Why didn't Chase say he had a son? He's so adorable and he looks exactly like him."

"Cuddy…" said House this time, trying to get her attention. Once he did, he said, "This isn't Chase's son."

Confused, Cuddy stood back up and asked, "What?…but he looks exactly like him and he said his father is…"

"Lisa, I think we should wait until we get to House's office to discuss this and so you can have a seat because it's pretty unbelievable. I mean I had a hard time standing after House told me." said Wilson.

"Ok…" said Cuddy feeling more confused at the way the two were acting as if it wasn't possible for Chase to not have a son.

As the elevator doors finally opened onto the fourth floor, they all headed to House's office, Cuddy was still trying to figure out what the whole big deal was.

* * *

Later in House's office….

Cuddy collapsed onto the chair in the corner of House's office in shock after House explained further why the little boy wasn't Chase's son. Looking over at the little boy drawing on the board in the conference room next door, she turned first to House, then Wilson and back to Robert.

"How?" was the first question out of Cuddy's mouth.

"We don't know, but that is Chase. House was able to prove it by having Foreman check something in Chase's medical file and apparently that little boy and Chase have the same identical scar on the right side on their chest." said Wilson.

Turning to House for confirmation, Cuddy saw House nod to what Wilson had said.

"This isn't a joke?" asked Cuddy, biting her lip.

"I'm afraid not." said House walking over to look at what Robert was drawing on the diagnosis board and smiled when he saw Robert was trying to draw sponge bob.

"But it's scientifically impossible." said Cuddy standing up to pace across House's office. "It just isn't possible for someone to be physically reverted to a childlike state, I understand if it was mentally but physically?! That's just not possible?!"

"Well, he's proof that it can happen, the thing is we don't know how it happened or why." said House turning to face Cuddy.

Taking a deep breath in and out, Cuddy asked, "Does anyone else know about this?"

"Just us three and Foreman." said Wilson taking a seat on the chair in the corner.

"Wait…" said House, looking at Cuddy suspiciously, "You're going to believe us without any doubt what so ever?"

"House….I know you like to mess with my head and pull pranks once in a while but I have my doubts that you would go this far or rather that Chase would let you go this far to pull something like this. So the only thing I can do is believe you, for once." explained Cuddy while leaning her head in her hand.

"Alright, just wanted to make things clear between us." said House while taking a seat at his desk. "Which reminds me, I don't think we should include Cameron in this."

"Why?" asked both Cuddy and Wilson.

"Guys, don't you already know. Cameron wouldn't believe any one of us, if anything she would think that child is Chase's son and we've all gone crazy. And she would probably think he skipped town or something to that extent since we can't really find or talk to him. Then knowing her she'll call social services because Chase was neglecting the kid and she'd probably think none of us would be fit to take care of a child since we've all gone over the deep end." explained House while leaning back in his chair.

"So…what do you want us to say when she sees him?" asked Wilson.

Thinking about that for a moment, House said, "We'll tell her he's your brother's son."

"House, Cameron already knows I have a godson and she's seen his picture, there is no way that she's going to believe that." said Wilson while putting his hands on his hips.

"He's right you know." said Cuddy and continued with, "We can say he's a relative of yours."

House only gave Cuddy a look and said, "That is even worse than my idea."

Wilson, shaking his finger in the air, said, "No, no…wait. She has a good idea there. We can say he belongs to your cousin's half sister and that he came to be in your care because your cousin gained custody of him after her half sister died and she trusts you to take care of him because she knows you're a doctor and you can provide for him in the meantime while she's away doing important work in Africa or some other exotic place that doesn't have phone lines."

"Wilson, that's a little far fetched, don't you think?" asked Cuddy.

"No it isn't, Cameron will ignore all the details once she hears he's been basically abandoned with House and knowing her, she'll try her best to take care of him as well since she'll probably think House can't do it." explained Wilson.

"Hey!" protested House, "I can too take care of him, I mean I took care of Steve really well and he lived a long and happy life."

Rolling his eyes, Wilson said, "Yes House, I know that but Cameron doesn't and besides he's not some rat that you can keep in a cage and feed cheese to all day long. He's a small child for crying out loud."

"Fine." said House but said under his breath, "She's not as dumb to fall for that"

"Which reminds me.." said Wilson ignoring House's comment, "Where is Foreman and Cameron?"

"Downstairs in the clinic, working some…um…extra hours." said House, looking away as Cuddy turned to give him a look.

* * *

Downstairs in the clinic…

"All I'm saying is that if Chase really wanted to just quit, he wouldn't just go without saying a word." argued Foreman as Cameron had said earlier that she wouldn't put it past Chase to just quit since she thought he was sometimes irresponsible.

"Look, I'm just giving you my opinion on the matter. I know I could be wrong…" said Cameron.

"Which you are and I think we should just assume that Chase had something really important come up and he just forgot to mention it to us." said Foreman.

"You know, I find it kind of weird that you're all of a sudden defending him. I thought you hated him?" asked Cameron.

"What? I don't hate him…" getting a raised eyebrow from Cameron Foreman continued, "Ok, so he annoys me sometimes, but that doesn't mean I hate the guy and so what if this is the first time I'm defending him. I just think he's not as irresponsible as you think he is."

"Uh huh." said Cameron writing down something in a patient's chart.

Before he could say something to that, both their pagers went off. Seeing that the page came from House, both handed their medical charts over to the nurse on duty and then headed for the elevators to go upstairs.

* * *

As soon as they arrived and walked into the conference room, both saw House was sitting down at the table and watching a little boy draw on the dry erase board they usually used to list symptoms for their patients.

Foreman recognizing the little boy immediately didn't say a word and waited for Cameron to say something and he didn't have to wait long.

"Who's this?" asked Cameron, watching a little boy drawing on House's board and House letting him.

House pretending to not hear Cameron's question, said, "Alright kiddies, I'm glad you came. Cuddy was just in here a moment ago and she handed us our next patient."

Foreman going along with House for once asked, "Symptoms?"

As House was about to answer, Cameron said, "House! Who's that little boy?"

"Him, he's nobody that you need to worry about but if you really need to know…He's my cousin's half sister's son from my mom's side. She came down today and asked me if I could take care of her kid, while she goes and takes care of some business in Brazil until she comes back." said House, holding up a file and pretending to read it.

Confused, Cameron asked, "But I thought you went over to Chase's apartment?"

"We did and we found him…" said House but looked slightly nervous as to why he wasn't here.

Foreman came to the rescue at that moment and said, "Yeah he was really sick, practically wouldn't let us through the door."

"What and you left him at his apartment?" asked a worried Cameron.

House giving Foreman a look said, "What Foreman means is that he's been quarantined to his apartment."

"What?! Why?!" asked Cameron in a loud voice, which in turn scared Robert into dropping the markers and running over to House's side, thinking he was in trouble.

House automatically picked up Robert and held him against his shoulder and while rubbing his back in soothing circles said, "Hey keep your screeching down, you scared him."

"Sorry." said Cameron, watching in disbelief as House was comforting the small boy.

"But to answer your question, Chase told us through his door that he thinks he's caught Rubella and so I decided to give him two months off from work."

"The German measles?" asked Cameron. "It shouldn't take that long to get over them though."

"Yeah, well, House kind of made fun of Chase for catching them and Chase threatened to come to work and pass it on to House if he didn't give him at least a week off from work." said Foreman coming up with something to back up House's lie.

"Yes, so I decided to give him a whole month off just in case but then called him and gave him two months instead since I don't want him near here with the little guy here." said House as he turned to look at Robert's face and noticed he was falling asleep on his shoulder.

Cameron still in a state of shock at House being kind to any human being especially a little boy, quickly felt her insides warm as she saw House give a fond smile to the little boy who was falling asleep on his shoulder but replaced it with a scowl as if he had forgotten where he was.

Shaking herself from her thoughts of House, she asked out of concern for where the little boy was falling asleep, "Do you want me to get a cot up here so he could sleep while we figure out what's wrong with our new patient?"

Nodding his head at Cameron's question, House waited until Cameron left the room to tell Foreman in a quiet voice, "Great going genius, knowing Cameron she's going to try to visit Chase now."

Foreman replied back in a quiet voice, "Hey, you're lucky she even believed you at all. If I hadn't said anything to back up your story she would have definitely seen through your obvious lie and anyways I seriously doubt she'll go. Since she seems more concerned about him being taken cared of by you at his real present state."

Glaring at Foreman, House said, "Just make sure she doesn't get a chance to visit his apartment or have a chance to be alone with him at his present state. Otherwise she'll definitely find out that he's really a five year old now."

Nodding his head, Foreman went over to the computer desk to check his e-mail but as he turned around to ask something, he stopped to watch as House lost his scowl, thinking Foreman wasn't watching him, and was smiling fondly down at Robert finally asleep on his shoulder.

He turned back around to face the computer screen and smirked to himself that Chase in his present state had somehow warmed their boss's heart and had House wrapped around his little finger.


	7. Chapter 6

YAY! I finally had a free weekend and I was able to work on these two chapters for Little One as well as one chapter for my other story. I hope you enjoy them. ^_^

**Chapter 6**

Once Cameron had found a cot and a snuggly looking blanket to bring up to the conference room, Foreman helped House lift a sleeping Robert from his shoulder and settle him comfortably on the cot.

As House watched Foreman cover Chase with the blanket, he couldn't help think that Chase as a little boy was a heavy sleeper but then again he was probably exhausted from the day's events.

Getting back to work and passing out copies of the medical file of their latest patient for Foreman and Cameron to look over quietly. House kept wondering back to Chase and how he was going to get by taking care of a five year old.

He knew the basics of taking care of a child but he was nervous with the thought of what happened if Chase got sick or worse he would lose his patience and snap at the little boy.

He just hoped that didn't happen at any time.

As they finished coming up with ideas of what their patient possibly had and House assigning tasks to Foreman and Cameron to run tests. He went to the computer desk in the conference room instead of his office to look up some information.

* * *

Robert felt terrified in the place that he was at and he didn't like the horrible scent that reached his nose as he wondered down a long and dark hallway. He knew he didn't want to go any further but his feet seemed to have a mind of their own as they lead him further down.

He felt his heart pounding rapidly in his little chest and at hearing a clanking noise, he wished House was with him at that moment to help him but he wasn't.

Walking further down, he noticed the clanking sound kept getting louder and louder until it was almost unbearable for his ears and as he placed his little hands to cover his ears, it stopped.

That's when he noticed he wasn't walking anymore and as he looked around, he noticed he was standing in front of a dark red door.

Hearing voices on the other side, Robert thinking there was other people, decided to open the door but as he opened it, his ears were assaulted by a loud chanting that was louder than the clanking sound.

Covering his ears again and closing his eyes because he was frightened, he opened them slowly as he felt a presence in front of him. Looking up he saw a mysterious black shape appear in front of him that appeared bigger than him. As it started to take a certain shape and take on more color, his view was suddenly blocked by another figure standing in front of him and the chanting was instantly muted.

Taking in the form of the other figure, he saw it was a beautiful woman and she turned to look over her shoulder and said, "Don't look little one, Don't look!"

Robert felt safer now that the woman was standing between him and the dark form but that only lasted for a while as he saw that the dark figure had pulled a big knife over the beautiful woman's head.

The woman noticing Robert's terrified face, turned back around in time to blast the dark figure back and away from them both. Turning towards Robert again she said, "Little one, you must leave this place, it is not safe. My Violca has still not gained her freedom from this man or her power and I'm afraid that if I don't go back to my body now he will kill me sooner then expected. So go little one! GO!"

Terrified once more, Robert cried out as he was thrown back and the big red door was slammed shut afterwards with a loud bang.

Waking up with a start, Robert sat up and looked around at his surroundings as the hospital that House and Wilson brought him to. Feeling tears well up in his eyes because of the scary dream he had, he started crying and hiccupped, "House!"

* * *

House who was looking up anything that would lead to people possibly being turned back into children was startled from his musings as he heard Robert cry out his name.

Limping over as quickly as he could to the cot where Robert was asleep a few moments ago, he saw him sitting up and crying his little heart out.

Taking a seat on the opposite side of the cot from where Robert was, he was almost thrown off as Robert flung himself into his arms and cried out in pain as Robert accidentally kicked his bad leg in the process.

Robert hearing House cry out in pain, flinched and scooted back to see House grab his leg, take out a bottle from his pocket and swallow some pills before dropping the whole bottle on the floor to grab his leg again.

Scooting further away, Robert felt bad that he had hurt House by accident and thought maybe House was about to get mad at him just like his mother would whenever he would do something bad.

Looking down at the floor and seeing all the little white pills and bottle everywhere, he thought maybe if he picked up the pills and put them back in the bottle then he wouldn't be in so much trouble with House.

So while grabbing the bottle in one hand and grabbing a few pills in the other, he was shocked when House all of a sudden yelled "No!" and pulled him to face him.

House feeling the throbbing in his leg go down to a more bearable level, opened his eyes to see Robert with his vicodin bottle in one hand and a few pills in the other.

He instantly panicked at that moment and thought Robert mistook the pills as candy, so while yelling "No!" He grabbed Robert to face him and checked his mouth to see if he swallowed any pills.

Letting go of Robert's mouth after checking if he swallowed any, he asked a wide eyed Robert in a loud panicked voice, "Did you eat any?!"

Snapping out of his slightly shocked state, Robert gave a loud wail and started crying while shaking his head no.

House meanwhile realizing how he over reacted and that Robert was probably old enough to know better not to eat something like pills and was probably just trying to help, tried to calm the crying child by hugging him and apologizing in a soothing voice.

He had already done what he had been afraid he would do and that was snap at the child.

Looking up while apologizing, House saw Wilson standing by the glass door with a concerned look on his face and mouth the words, 'Everything ok?"

Shaking his head no, House gave the sign that he needed a few minutes and so Wilson came into the room fully and sat at the conference table to wait.

* * *

After a few minutes had passed by with Robert's crying turning into quiet sniffling, House picked Robert up and gently cradled the little boy against his chest as he fell asleep again from all his crying.

Sighing he turned to Wilson and said in a soft voice, "He called out my name and was crying, so I'm assuming he was having a bad dream but as soon as I sat down he kicked me by accident. I dropped my pills on the floor accidentally after I took some to help with the pain and when I opened my eyes I saw him with the bottle in one hand and some of the pills in the other. Wilson, I thought he had taken some and I over reacted and I really scared him. I feel like such an asshole."

Wilson listening intently to House's explanation, asked, "Did he? Take some pills I mean?"

"No, but.." tried to say House but Wilson interrupted him.

"Relax, House, I've seen parents over react over much less dangerous things than that." said Wilson as stood up from the chair he was sitting on.

"Just apologize when he wakes up again. Let him know that you didn't mean to yell at him AND tell him you were wrong to yell at him. Also explain the reason why you thought you had to yell at him." said Wilson.

"What if he doesn't accept my apology and doesn't want to be near me after this?" asked House.

"Relax he won't. I think he's really attached to you." said Wilson, reassuring his best friend as he stood up from his seat.

"You know, If anything, this just proves that you really do have a soft spot for little children and Robert seems to have captured a small part of your heart." said Wilson as he was walking out the conference room.

Rolling his eyes at Wilson and after he was alone again with Robert he whispered, "I guess I do but you're wrong about one thing Wilson. Robert's captured more than a small part of it, he's captured a big chunk of it."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

There were some benefits to getting a ride home from your best friend and that was House could catch a quick nap on the way home since he was exhausted from the rest of the evening's events.

After Robert had woken up the second time around, the little boy had been in a foul mood the rest of the evening.

He wouldn't listen to House, he kept on running out the door to down the hall where he found Wilson's office or rather Wilson had found him. He kept complaining that he was hungry, but when House would offer him a snack he would refuse to eat it. He would complain he was bored and when House would offer to show him around the hospital to go somewhere where he knew there was a television, Robert would ask if he could go with Wilson instead of House.

Knowing that Robert was still upset with him after he had yelled at him and he had even apologized several times, he just felt like giving up and asking Wilson to watch Robert for tonight and possibly the next day too.

Since he knew the little boy wasn't going to forgive him anytime soon even after trying to explain. Relaxing some more he fell asleep with his head leaning against the passenger window of Wilson's car.

* * *

Wilson looking over at his exhausted best friend who was now sleeping and then at the pouting little boy in the back seat through the rearview mirror, decided it was time for him to intervene.

"Robert…" said Wilson trying to get the little boy's attention.

Robert looking at Wilson's eyes reflected in the rearview mirror, asked, "Yes Wilson?"

"Look, I know you were pretty shook up because House yelled at you earlier but…He was just worried that you had eaten his pills. Ok little one." said Wilson.

"But…but I didn't eat his medicine. Daddy told me medicine is when you are sick." said Robert fiddling with the strap of his seatbelt.

"That's right but House was really in pain and that's why he got confused when he saw you with his medicine. I know he didn't mean to yell at you the way he did but he was really scared." said Wilson, hoping Robert would forgive House.

Wilson watched as Robert seemed to be thinking about what he said and after remaining silent for a bit, Robert said, "Ok, but I was really bad today, Wilson. He will still be mad at me."

"I seriously doubt it, little one. I think he knows you only behaved that way because you were still upset at him for yelling at you but I bet if you say sorry to him, he'll tell you that he isn't mad at you one bit." said Wilson.

"Really?" asked Robert, hoping Wilson was right.

"Really and I promise you after you apologize that tomorrow when I come to pick you both up to go to the hospital again. I'll buy you the biggest vanilla ice cream bar from the cafeteria after we eat lunch." said Wilson as he watched Robert's eyes widen at the thought of ice cream.

"Ok!" said a cheery Robert as he started bouncing in his seat.

As Wilson continued to drive to House's apartment, he saw out of the corner of his eye House awake, looking at him and mouthing the words, "thank you."

Turning to face House, he mouthed the words "you're welcome" back and then turned back to face the road to continue driving.

* * *

Pulling up to the curb to House's apartment, Wilson got out and helped to unbuckle Robert from the backseat since House had told Wilson earlier his leg was still bothering him and he was going to go on up ahead of the two.

As soon as Robert was set loose though, he jumped out of the car onto the sidewalk and ran to House's side before House could go into his apartment and gently hug his left leg and said, "Sorry House for being bad today."

House surprised that he was forgiven so fast, said, "It's okay Robert I can understand why but I hope you forgive me too for yelling at you." and received a nod from Robert.

House gave a mental sigh of relief and turned to Wilson with a smile and saw that Wilson also had a smile on his face as he made to follow the two into House's apartment after Robert let go and grabbed his hand.

As they walked in, Robert's gaze was instantly glued to the black piano in the corner and letting go of House's hand, he took his sweater off and made his way to the piano to sit on the piano bench without touching.

House watching Robert admiring his piano, said, "Do you want to hear me play something little one?"

Robert not able to contain his excitement said, "Uh huh!"

"Alright but you have to scoot over and make room for me." said House as he removed his coat and placed it on the sofa.

Wilson who was standing behind House, rolled his eyes at House for just tossing his coat on the sofa. So after removing his own, he grabbed House's coat, Robert's sweater and placed both them all on the coat rack.

Watching House play a tune for Robert, Wilson asked, "So do you want to order something to eat?"

"Sure, pick a menu and I'll have the usual from wherever you decide to choose." said House who was showing Robert how to play a simple tune on the piano.

As Wilson picked a menu from the kitchen drawer, he scanned through the items to see if there was anything that would look appetizing to a five year old. Finally finding something, he dialed the number for delivery and placed their orders.

* * *

After they ate their dinner and had watched some television, House stood up and said, "Ok, little one, I think it's time for you to take a bath and then off to bed because it's getting late for all the munchkins in the world."

Giggling at being called a munchkin, Robert said, "okay." and made his way to the bathroom.

Watching House, watch Robert go to the bathroom, Wilson asked, "Aren't you going to help him?"

"Nah, he's old enough to take a bath on his own." said House as he took a seat on the sofa.

Wilson sighing, stood up and said, "House, he's five years old. He may be smart enough to do many things on his own, like not take pills, but he's still a little boy and needs to be supervised when he takes a bath. A lot of accidents could happen to a child in the bathroom and I seriously doubt he'd be able to work the taps on his own."

"Wilson are you sure?" asked House out of the blue.

"of course I'm sure…wait…sure about what? Robert?" asked Wilson.

"Are you sure, you aren't a woman? Because I swear you just nag and nag all day long." said House sarcastically as he stood up to go to the bathroom to help Robert take a bath.

"House, shut up and go help supervise Robert while I go get his clothes from the car." said Wilson as he was grabbing his coat.

"Fine but if he splashes me, then tomorrow you also have to promise me to buy me a big vanilla ice cream bar too." said House as he opened the bathroom door.

Exasperated with House, Wilson said, "Fine! Just go help him already. I don't want him slipping in the bath or something."

Watching Wilson step out of the apartment, House turned to Robert in the bathroom and said, "Ok little guy, let's puts lots of bubbles in your bath."

"YAY!" shouted an excited Robert as he watched House prepare his bath.

* * *

After his bath and saying goodnight to Wilson as he left, Robert now wore a pair of his new sweats and one of House's t-shirts as his pajamas.

House lead Robert into his bedroom, said, "Ok little guy, you get to have the bedroom, while I go sleep on the couch that way we don't have another accident like we did earlier today at the hospital, ok."

Looking at the big bed, Robert said, "ok."

"Ok, up you go." said House watching Robert climb onto the bed and get under the covers.

Grabbing one of the pillows on the bed, House said goodnight to Robert but was stopped by Robert calling his name in a timid voice.

"What's up, little one?" asked House as he was about to turn off the lights and close the door to the room.

"House, I'm thirsty." said Robert as he sat up in bed.

"Alright, then let me get you a drink of water and then it's off to dreamland, ok?" asked House.

"ok." said Robert as he waited for House to bring him a drink of water.

After giving him his water and saying goodnight again, he was again stopped by Robert calling his name.

"Hmm?" asked House as he looked back at Robert sitting up again on the bed.

"Um…House, can…the door stay open?" asked Robert.

Smiling fondly at Robert, House said, "Of course." and turned off the light to the room and left the door open.

Preparing the sofa and laying down on it, House soon fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

It wasn't until ten minutes later, House came awake as he heard a sound close by him or rather come from the chair in the corner.

Turning he came awake with a start as he saw Robert sitting on the chair and just watching him.

"Robert…you scared me, little one. What's wrong?" asked House in a sleep roughened voice.

Robert who was holding on to his pillow as a teddy bear came over to stand next to the sofa and said, "House…I'm scared. I want my mommy."

Sitting up on the sofa, House said, "Sorry little one but she's not here and neither is your daddy."

"Why?" asked Robert with a teary voice and trembling lip.

House noticing the trembling lip, thought of something to say that wouldn't cause Robert to cry, so he said, "Ah, well, wherever they went they had to go."

"Are they coming back?" asked Robert with a hopeful tone.

"Well, because of certain circumstances…." said House but noticed Robert's sad face he continued with, "hey, don't worry, ok? I know I may not be your daddy or mommy, Robert, but I want you to think of me, Wilson, Dr. Cuddy, Cameron and Eric as kind of like your new family right now, because we like you and want to take care of you. Ok?"

Nodding his head slowly, Robert said in a small voice, "ok but I miss them."

"I know, little one. Come here." said House while sitting up and opening his arms to hug Robert.

Robert gladly accepted the hug and after another extra squeeze from House, he let him go and said, "Ok, you ready for bed now?"

Looking down at the floor for a moment, Robert glanced back up and asked, "Can you sleep in the room with me?"

"Robert…" tried to protest House but was stopped as he took in Robert's pleading face and pout.

Sighing, House decided to give in and so grabbed his pillow in one arm and held his other hand out for Robert to take.

Leading Robert back to his bedroom, he collapsed on his back and soon fell asleep as his head lay on his pillow and he was under his covers.

Snoring softly he never felt Robert climb on the bed from the other side and tuck himself under the covers and hug him with his head laying on his chest.

Nor did he hear Robert say softly, "Goodnight House, love you." as he too fell asleep.

* * *

The next day…

House woke up when he felt something tap the side of his cheek and just stay there.

Wondering what was touching his face, he turned with one eye open to see that Robert was now sleeping sideways on the bed with one foot on his pillow and the other foot was what was pressed up against his cheek.

As he turned his head the other way to check what time it was, he noticed it was earlier than the usual time he would wake up. Groaning softly, he moved Robert's foot carefully away from his face and sat up and as he came more awake, he heard someone making breakfast.

Rubbing a hand across his face, he rolled his eyes and wondered what time Wilson had come in to make them breakfast.

'Did the man even sleep?' thought House sarcastically as he tried to figure out how many hours of sleep Wilson could have possibly had but gave up because at least he wouldn't have to make breakfast for himself or Robert.

Getting up, he grabbed his cane and made his way to the bathroom first.

Once he was finished washing his hands, he peeked into his bedroom on the way to the kitchen to see if Robert was still asleep, seeing that he was, he slowly closed the door.

Walking into his kitchen, House saw several bags of groceries on one side of his kitchen counter and Wilson mixing some batter in a mixing bowl.

"Oh good, you're up. Do you think you could help me put away some of these groceries. I knew you wouldn't have anything to make for Robert for breakfast last night, so I stopped by the store to buy a few things." said Wilson as he poured some of the batter onto a skillet.

Blinking at Wilson, House said, grumpily "You do realize it's seven thirty in the morning, right?"

Turning to House briefly, Wilson said, "Yes and your point?"

Shaking his head, House said, "never mind" and helped put away some of the items in his cabinets and refrigerator.

Taking a seat on one of the stools in his kitchen, House rubbed his leg and said, "Robert couldn't sleep last night and he asked about his parents."

Flipping the pancakes over, Wilson asked, "What did you tell him?"

"Well I kind of told him something that sounded like the truth…" tried to explain House but was cut off by Wilson.

"You didn't, House. You didn't tell him that both his parents aren't alive did you?" asked Wilson fully turning to face House from his side of the kitchen.

"No…I just told him that they had no choice in leaving and that we are all kind of….um…his family right now since they aren't here." said House as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Smiling at his best friend, who was slightly embarrassed at what he confessed, asked, "So I take it, he took that as a good enough answer or did he end up crying himself to sleep on you, again?"

"Nope, there weren't any tears during bed time. He seemed to be actually fine with that answer and…Wait…" said House staring at Wilson who was flipping some of the pancakes on to a plate, "You came in earlier than this to check up on us, didn't you? So early that you had time to go to the grocery store and come back. You probably already knew Robert was going to have trouble sleeping, didn't you? What, still having doubts that I can take care of a small child?"

Wilson ignoring House's question, said, "Why don't you wake Robert up so he can get ready and then have some breakfast."

"Hey don't deflect." said House getting up from the stool to stand next to Wilson.

"I'm not deflecting and the reason why I came in earlier wasn't because I don't think you can't take care of him but I wanted to make sure if you woke up with pain in your leg that someone was here to reassure him that it's normal in case he got worried or worse scared." explained Wilson as he poured more batter on to the skillet.

Chewing that thought over, House said, "Liar."

Giving an exaggerated sigh, Wilson said, "House…"

"You also took pictures on your camera phone of us sleeping and him using my face as a foot rest, didn't you? No wonder I was having a dream about a camera shutter going off." said House smirking at Wilson.

Giving a small snort of amusement, Wilson responded with a smile, "Ok…I couldn't resist. I knew I had to take a few snaps, in case I needed blackmail material or proof to show your patients that you indeed have a heart since you let him use your face as a foot rest."

Chuckling, House walked towards his bedroom but before he left, he said with a serious face, "If I find any blown up pictures of that around the hospital, I'll so make you pay by telling Nurse Jeff you've converted and you have the hots for him."

"You wouldn't!" said Wilson as he gaped at House.

"Just try me and you can so say goodbye to your panty peeling days forever." said House as he left the kitchen.

"Harsh…so harsh." said Wilson, frowning and noticing his pancakes were getting burnt.

"Ack! Well at least he didn't say I couldn't show them to anyone from my phone." mumbled Wilson to himself.

"I heard that!" said House as he peeked his head in to the kitchen again before heading to his bedroom.

* * *

The rest of the morning was spent with House helping Robert pick something to wear from his small pile of clothes, then House getting ready himself, the three sitting down and eating pancakes or rather Robert gobbling them down since he thought they were really yummy.

Then Wilson packing a snack bag for Robert AND House since House whined that he wanted one too, with Robert giggling at House's facial expressions when Wilson had first refused to make one for him.

Then after locking up House's apartment and getting Robert buckled in the backseat and House asking if Wilson was going to buckle him in too, resulting in getting another giggle from Robert. Wilson pulled out into traffic and finally drove to PPTH.

On the drive over Wilson hoped House wasn't going to be acting this way all day as revenge for taking pictures of him and Robert while they asleep.

As they finally arrived he thought either way he wasn't going to let House near his phone to delete the pictures because he had a feeling that once they were able to get Chase back to his original age somehow, House would be missing the little boy that had stepped into their lives.

So maybe keeping a picture or two out of this would be a good memento for House to keep afterwards.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

House thought that the day went by without any problems so far. Everyone took turns watching Robert except for Cameron and when she confronted House in his office about that.

He said, "Well, knowing you, you'll probably tell Robert that I'm the incarnate of evil and that I shouldn't be trusted. So you'll end up scaring him for life and he'll never trust his Uncle House ever again. Plus, I don't think he really likes you all that much."

Shocked at House's last comment, Cameron said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Are you sure he's even related to you because I can't believe that his uncle is a grumpy misanthrope while he's just the total opposite."

"See Robert! She is mean!" said House while pointing to Cameron.

Robert watching Cameron and House interact, giggled and said, "House isn't grumpy anymore." Then went back to coloring his coloring book that was on the floor, which was from Wilson.

"HA! There you see, even Robert agrees that you're mean." said House smirking, ignoring the fact that Robert had thought of him as an old grumpy man before as well.

Rolling her eyes, Cameron said, "He didn't even say that. I don't know how you even got that idea from what he said….which reminds me, where did you say he's from again?"

House said while turning towards his computer screen and pretending to look over his e-mails, "Europe."

"Then why does he have an Australian accent like Chase and now that I look at him, he reminds me of Chase." said Cameron while looking at Robert color his coloring book.

"Just coincidence, I told you before his real mother was from Australia." said House nonchalantly.

"Sure, coincidence." said Cameron as she left House's office.

House watching as Cameron left his office, turned towards Robert and said, "Hey Robert, come over here for a moment."

"Ok." said Robert as he stood up from lying down on the floor and walked over to House sitting at his desk.

House laying his hands on Robert's shoulders said, "Robert, I know you believe that lying is bad but I think it would be better for Cameron if she didn't know your last name. So if you're ever alone with her, I want you to tell her your last name is House. Ok little one?"

"But House that's lying and mommy told me to not lie. She said it's bad…." said Robert as he looked down at the floor.

"I know little one, but this isn't really a lie, ok it's a lie but there are good lies and bad lies. So I don't mind good lies at all, anyways this is a good lie because if you or I tell her your last name is Chase, she'll probably get really worried and start acting weird and I need her to be able to work and do her job." said House watching as Robert chewed on his lip, thinking over what House just told him.

As Robert continued to think, he finally looked up at House and asked, "Are you sure it's a good lie House? Cameron won't be hurt?"

Smiling gently at Robert, House said, "Believe me Robert, this lie won't hurt her at all. If anything it'll help out a lot and she won't lose her mind trying to fix this."

"Huh?" asked Robert with a questioning look and not understanding that House was referring to him being turned into a five-year-old.

"Sorry munchkin, but no it won't hurt her if that's what you're worried about." said House as he ruffled Robert's hair.

Giggling from House ruffling his hair, Robert finally smiled at House and said, "Ok."

Standing up, House grabbed his cane and said, "You know what munchkin, why don't we go and find Wilson and ask him to get us some food. I know we have snacks but I'm in the mood for a Reuben sandwich and I'm sure you want something to eat before Wilson buys us that big ice cream bar he promised us yesterday."

"YAY! Ice cream bar!" shouted an excited Robert as he ran towards the door to House's office and held the door open with his little frame.

Smiling, House made his way over to Robert and held the door and watched Robert make his way to Wilson's office. He stood in front of the closed office door that read Dr. James Wilson and looked back towards House and with a nod from House. He said in a loud and excited voice while knocking, "Wilson! House wants food!"

* * *

Meanwhile inside Wilson's office, Wilson was concentrating on some paperwork when he was startled out of his mind at hearing a rapid knocking on his door and a loud and excited Robert shout, "Wilson! House wants food!"

Sighing, Wilson now knew for sure House was out to get him today but smiled that his friend choose to use Robert to extract his revenge for the pictures taken this morning.

Getting up, he opened the door and greeted Robert with a smile and said, "Hey Robert. Did House send you over or did you come over yourself?"

Shaking his head, Robert said, "House told me he was hungry and I came over here to tell you by myself."

Amused with what Robert said, Wilson said, "Well, let's not keep him waiting because I can tell from over here he's hungry."

"Hey you promised an ice cream bar for the both of us today, so I'm only reminding you about it!" said House loud enough for Wilson to hear him from his office door.

Rolling his eyes, Wilson said, "Come on little one, let's go down to the cafeteria and get us something to eat before House becomes grumpy from lack of sugar."

Robert looked back towards House and smiled.

"I'm a good lip reader, you know." said House as he came to stand next to Robert and Wilson.

"Well, read my lips, I'm buying you those ice cream bars but YOU are paying for lunch or I will send out a memo and e-mail those pictures to everyone in the hospital." said Wilson.

"Fine." said House giving an exaggerated sigh and knowing that Wilson was just joking.

Robert watching the two men talk, spoke up and asked, "Wilson you have pictures of House doing something bad?"

Chuckling Wilson, said, "No little one. I'm just joking around with House. You see he's shy when it comes to pictures and he took some that he doesn't want anyone else to see that show a good side to him."

"Oh, ok." said Robert as he grabbed Wilson's hand and missed the glare that House gave Wilson as all three headed towards the elevators.

Wilson just ignored House's glare by smiling back in return.

* * *

After having lunch with Wilson, Wilson left House and Robert to do some rounds among his patients and so House and Robert were heading back to House's office.

House and Robert got on the elevator to go to the fourth floor and as the elevator doors were barely closing a man stepped onto the elevator.

Robert who was watching as House pressed the button for the fourth floor again, also watched as the tall dark haired man pressed a button too.

Keeping his eyes on the tall dark haired man, Robert felt slightly uncomfortable when the man turned towards him.

Grabbing House's hand, Robert turned away when the man smiled at him since he didn't like the man's piercing pale blue eyes or fake smile.

House who was now used to Robert grabbing his hand was slightly puzzled when he felt Robert lean his face towards his side.

As he was looking down, he was about to ask what was wrong but was stopped when the man in the elevator spoke to him.

"You have an adorable child there." said the man to House, giving what House would describe as more of an predatory smirk then a genuine smile.

"Thanks." said House and went back to staring at the elevator doors in front of him. He hoped the man would take a hint that he didn't like small talks in an elevator.

The man not taking the hint said, "Are you visiting family? Your wife maybe? I am visiting my daughter on the third floor, who was in an accident."

House getting annoyed that the man had no clue that he didn't want to converse in an elevator especially with someone that made Robert react the way he did, said sarcastically, "Nope, I'm actually a doctor in this hospital and this kid isn't my son. I thought to myself before I came into work this morning that I should just grab him off the streets and perform experiments on his brain. You know, just for kicks."

The man raising an eyebrow at House's statement, said, "Ah." before turning back to stare at the elevator doors and finally taking the hint that House did not want to talk to him.

As the elevator signaled that they arrived on the third floor, the man turned back towards House as he was leaving and said, "Good luck with your experiments." before turning his gaze towards Robert and winking at him.

Robert frowned as the man winked at him and so turned his face and body away and leaned towards House 's side some more.

As the elevator doors closed, House said while running his hand over Robert's head, "Weirdo. I want to call him something else but I don't think that would be a good word for you to hear. You ok, little one?"

Robert looking up at House, nodded his head and said, "House, he was scary."

"Yeah I know, gave me the creeps too. I feel sorry for his daughter and having an as…I mean bozo for a dad." said House as he patted Robert's head.

Robert now feeling more comfortable that the man was gone, stood back from House and let go of his hand and asked, "Can I write on your board, House?"

"Sorry Robert, not today, Foreman said he would be bringing some information for us to discuss about a patient of mine. So you're going to have to stick with the coloring book today." said House as he watched Robert pout.

"It's boring." said Robert, in hopes that House would change his mind.

"I know, I know. Hey if we leave early today, How about we go to the toy store and get you some more activity books or a toy? We could drag Wilson along as well and we could convince him to buy you a couple more." said House.

"Ok!" said an excited Robert as he grabbed House's hand again and followed House back to House's office once they arrived on the fourth floor.

* * *

Later in the evening at House's apartment….

Wilson was glad that House had a couch because he felt exhausted from his trip to the toy store with a five year old and his best friend who sometimes acted like a five year old.

Wilson had sighed when House had called him over the phone from his office and suggested the idea that they go to the toy store after work.

At first he thought that maybe House was using the whole thing as an excuse to get out of helping diagnose what his latest patient had but when House had passed the phone to Foreman.

Foreman had confirmed that House had an idea of what the patient already had and so had already assigned tasks for him and Cameron to do.

Which Wilson thought was weird since Foreman didn't seem displeased at all that House was leaving before him and Cameron did. Shrugging, Wilson told Foreman to tell House that he would come by their office to pick up Robert and House when it was time for him to leave.

He remembered hearing Robert's excited voice in the background as Foreman relayed the message back to House.

Now here he was, sitting on House's couch, feeling tired from trying to keep up with the two at the store and just watching the two now on the floor playing with Lego blocks.

Leaning forward, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you two building by the way?"

"Oh, you know the great wall." said House as he stacked some more blocks on his side.

"A plane." said Robert as he continued to build his plane.

Wilson shook his head and picked up the small booklet from the floor and made his way to the kitchen while looking over the few designs in it before putting it down and grabbing a take out menu to order something for all of them to eat.

As he was on the phone putting in their orders for delivery he smiled as he watched Robert flying his plane and House pretending to be something that was trying to swipe Robert's plane down.

After hanging up and turning back around to grab some drinks and a coke for Robert from the fridge, he heard a thump and thought it was House or Robert but was soon startled when House said in a panicked tone, "Robert!"

Turning around he saw House cradling an unconscious Robert while calling his name and as he was making his way to the living room, House turned to him and told him to call an ambulance.

Staring at how Robert's lips were turning blue, Wilson quickly went back to the kitchen and grabbed the phone but as he was about to dial for an ambulance he heard Robert take in a sudden deep breath.

House had been rebuilding his 'great wall' while Robert had flown his plane in circles around the couch. Turning his gaze away from Robert to work on his wall some more he heard Robert start mumbling to himself but figured it was just Robert playing.

It wasn't until he didn't hear anything else that he looked up and noticed Robert just standing in place and facing away from him.

As he was about to call out his name, he collapsed back and onto the floor. Crawling on the floor as fast as he could over to Robert, he told Wilson to call an ambulance while he checked Robert for a pulse and when he noticed his lips turning blue he picked him up to check if anything was blocking his airway.

While he was checking Robert's airway, he was taken aback when all of a sudden Robert took a deep breath and sighed in relief when he continued to breathe.

Noticing that Robert still hadn't opened his eyes, House furrowed his eyebrows and said worriedly, "Robert."

He again gave a sigh of relief when Robert slowly opened his eyes and looked at him with a confused face and asked, "House why are you sad?"

Looking worriedly down at Robert since he didn't remember collapsing, House turned to Wilson and said, "Call Foreman and let him know that we are going back to the hospital and to meet us there."

Wilson still holding up the phone, nodded his head and dialed Foreman's number and waited for the other end to be picked up.

As soon as Wilson had Foreman on the line, Wilson explained what happened and once he got a confirmation from him that they would meet at the hospital, he hung up.

Walking into the living room, where Robert was sitting on the couch now with House running his hand gently over the top of Robert's head and explaining that they had to go back to the hospital, Wilson asked, "What happened?"

House keeping his eyes on Robert said, "It looked like an absence seizure but that wouldn't have made him stop breathing or collapse."

"Asthma attack, maybe?" asked Wilson watching as House tied Robert's shoes.

"No, that wouldn't have made him collapse like that." said House glancing over to Wilson and then back to Robert.

Walking over to the coat rack, Wilson grabbed all their coats and after passing Robert's and House's coats, he put his on.

"Come on Robert." said House as he grabbed Robert's hand.

Robert sensing the tension that was emitting from House said, "I don't want to go."

"I know little one but I would feel better if we went back. Do you want to take your new toy koala bear?" asked House as he reached for the toy that had been sitting on the couch.

Nodding his head, Robert waited for House to pass him his toy and once he had the plush toy secured in his arm, he followed House and Wilson out the door.

* * *

Once they arrived to PPTH, they found Foreman and Cuddy waiting at the entrance to the clinic, all five of them stepped onto the elevator and headed downstairs to run an MRI on Robert.

Before they headed towards the room with the MRI machine, Cuddy suggested they take Robert to the sleep lab so he could change into a hospital gown. Once they had done that they then headed towards Radiology with Foreman carrying Robert.

Robert who didn't like how House, Wilson, Foreman and Cuddy were talking about him, grew scared when they came into the room with this big machine.

As Foreman sat him on the slab, he held on to his plush toy tightly and refused to let go of it when Foreman let him know he couldn't go into the machine with it.

House sighed as Robert pouted at Foreman and so stepped out from the small room to the side and said, "Robert, give Foreman your toy."

Shaking his head, Robert held his toy tighter to his chest and said, "No! I don't want to go into the machine!"

"Robert!" said House in a harsh tone.

Flinching at the tone that House used, Robert looked back up at House with a trembling lip.

Cuddy came to stand next to House and laid a hand on House's arm and said, "House."

Sighing, House realized that he was just scaring the little boy and so walking up to Robert he said in a much gentler voice, "Robert, I know this is happening really fast for you and I know you're scared but I'm scared too little one."

"Why?" asked Robert while still holding on to his toy since he was suspicious that House would yank it away, like his mommy would sometimes do when she wanted to take away his toys.

"You see, this machine is going to help me see if there's anything wrong with you and I want to make sure I can see everything, like your heart, your lungs and even your stomach. So if you go in with the toy we won't be able to see those parts." explained House.

Looking over to Cuddy, Foreman and Wilson in the see through room and then back to House, Robert asked, "Will it hurt?"

House giving up on taking the toy away, gave a reassuring smile to Robert and said, "No, little one but I will be honest with you and tell you that it's loud so I'm going to put these ear plugs in your ears so it's not so scary for you. Also once you're in the machine I need you to try to hold as still as possible, ok?

"Ok" said Robert as he let House put the ear plugs into his ears and let House lay him down.

As House was about to walk away to go inside the side room where Foreman, Wilson and Cuddy were watching them, House stopped short when Robert called his name and held out his toy to him.

"House, you can hold him so you won't be scared." said Robert as he placed the toy in House's hand.

"Thanks little one." said House as he smiled down at Robert and ran a comforting hand over his brow. He then walked back towards the side room and leaned up against the wall.

"Are you alright?" asked Cuddy as she turned towards House and noticed that House was holding on to the plush toy tightly.

"Yeah, let's just get this started already." said House as he watched Foreman turn on the machine and watched the monitor.


End file.
